Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer Domeij, 29, died in combat in Afghanistan Oct. 22. (/ United States Army Special Operations Command)

Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer B. Domeij, a 29-year-old special operations soldier from San Diego, was killed in Afghanistan on his 14th combat deployment — a remarkable and perhaps unprecedented tally among Army Rangers killed in action.

Domeij was fatally wounded Saturday with two other soldiers in a roadside bomb strike in Kandahar province. By then he had spent a total of about four years in combat with the elite Ranger force, during four deployments to Iraq and 10 to Afghanistan.

In his official Army photo, Domeij looks startled. “He would have hated that photo, it didn’t represent him,” said a friend who called him “my brother” and submitted an alternate image. “He was fearless in life and in combat.”

Domeij (pronounced DO-MAY) was a Joint Terminal Attack Controller — responsible for calling in close air support for ground troops — with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Domeij had guts but wanted no glory, it seems. Kyle Domeij, of San Diego, said his brother told the family that if anything happened to him, he wouldn’t want any media coverage.

“He didn’t want to be in the limelight. My brother was a very humble man,” said Domeij. “We never even knew all the accomplishments he had. We’re just finding out about it now.”

The Domeij family declined this week to discuss the fallen soldier’s life and service, while they weighed whether to respect his last wishes or publicly pay tribute to his memory.

Kristoffer Domeij graduated in 2001 from Rancho Bernardo High School. He enlisted in the Army that July and joined the Rangers in April 2002.

During his decade of service, Domeij was awarded two Bronze Stars, and a third for his final tour will be presented posthumously, according to U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer Domeij, 29, died in Kandahar Province from wounds he suffered when an improvised explosive device was detonated by enemy fighters.

/ Domeij Family

Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer Domeij, 29, died in Kandahar Province from wounds he suffered when an improvised explosive device was detonated by enemy fighters.

Rancho Bernardo High School principal Paul Robinson said Domeij was a good student who worked hard and was “a real fine football player.” He was also “a fun-loving young man. Some folks might call him a knuckle-head, but he always had everybody’s best interest at heart.”

Several of the school’s former students have been wounded, but Domeij is the first Robinson knows of killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. “No one had any idea of the number of deployments and missions that he had served on,” Robinson said. “It was quite amazing.”

The special operations community is famously tight-lipped, because of the dangers of the job and the tendency to work behind enemy lines and in small groups. Often only senior leaders such as the battalion commander are identified publicly.

A Ranger posting on a special operations community website said Domeij had served as his platoon’s forward observer, responsible for locating targets and directing mortar fire. Domeij later became one of the first Army-qualified Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, who are usually members of the Air Force.

Lt. Col. David Hodne, his battalion commander, said “this was a Ranger you wanted at your side when the chips were down. ... He is irreplaceable in our formation, and in our hearts.”

Col. Mark W. Odom, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment, said Domeij was a veteran of hundreds of combat missions “whose ability to employ fire support platforms made him a game changer on the battlefield — an operator who in real terms had the value of an entire strike force on the battlefield.”

Besides his brother, Domeij is survived by his wife, Sarah, and daughters Mikajsa and Aaliyah of Lacey, Wash.; and his mother, Scoti Domeij, of Colorado Springs, Colo.